Double Bass Fishman BP-100

[Vunz]

Very nice, Barcza! Indeed, I recognize the BP-100 tone. It was the first pickup I owned, and despite its bad rep, I was pretty happy with the sound. Then again, I was (and still am) a Marc Johnson fan, and in the early nineties, when I started playing upright, he was using a BP 100 as well.

Cheers,
Vincent

 

[Barcza]

Yes, the BP-100 is a little underrated, is not bad at all. I dont really like piezzos, I prefer mic and contact mic sound, for my ears the BP-100 is not really worst than other piezzos on the market. All piezzos has one dimensional sound, I think, some like Realist has body sound, some like BP-100 has string sound, the real sound contains both and more. With mic there is feedback risk, when blending mic there is phase problem, DPA 4099 and Ehrlund are big steps, I think, but the double bass amplification still unsolved....

 

[dandanbassman]

I never liked my BP-100 much - didn't like the clanky live or recorded sound (using a Rode NT1 1 metre away was a waaay better recorded sound).

But then - having seen that piezo pickups like the BP-100 need at least 1 mega-ohm input impedance - I got myself the Genzler Magellan MG350 amp (which has 1 MOhm on the input). This setup (including the BP-100) now sounds sweet as a nut! I'll use the DI output on the Genzler for recording as I expect this to be a big improvement.

 

[Francois Blais]

Are you talking of the same bass?

That said the BP-100 is even more at home with a 10Mohms input impedance.

 

[dandanbassman]

My bass is a 1930s Berini - and needs some restoration work. The combination of BP-100 and the Genzler gear is nicely transparent and exposes the shortcomings of the bass.

@Francois Blais - do you know how I could increase the input impedance to further improve the sound? Will a pre-amp do this?

 

[Francois Blais]

Yes, a preamp.
If you have a Fdeck's HPFPre, you already have the solution!

 

[Francois Blais]

Not mine, but worths mentioning:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/hpf-pre-series-2m-blue.1652995/